Sunday, January 3, 2016

January 2016 Visiting Teaching Ideas

Prayerfully study this material and seek to know what to share. How will understanding the doctrine of the family bless those you watch over through visiting teaching? For more information, go to reliefsociety.lds.org.

Faith, Family, Relief

Of the general Relief Society meeting in 1995, when President Gordon B. Hinckley (1910–2008) first read “The Family: A Proclamation to the World,” Bonnie L. Oscarson, Young Women general president, said: “We were grateful for and valued the clarity, simplicity, and truth of this revelatory document. … The proclamation on the family has become our benchmark for judging the philosophies of the world, and I testify that the principles set forth … are as true today as they were when they were given to us by a prophet of God nearly 20 years ago.”¹

“From the family proclamation,” adds Carole M. Stephens, first counselor in the Relief Society general presidency, “we learn, ‘In the premortal realm, spirit sons and daughters knew and worshipped God as their Eternal Father’² …

“… We each belong to and are needed in the family of God.”³

We live in a time when parents must protect their homes and their families. “The Family: A Proclamation to the World” can guide us.

Additional Scriptures

Mosiah 8:16–17; Doctrine and Covenants 1:38

Living Stories

“Lee Mei Chen Ho from the Tao Yuan Third Ward, Tao Yuan Taiwan Stake, said the proclamation has taught her that family relationships help develop divine characteristics such as faith, patience, and love. ‘When I try to improve myself according to the proclamation, I can experience real happiness,’ she said.”⁴

Barbara Thompson, who was present when the proclamation was read for the first time and later served as a counselor in the Relief Society general presidency, said: “I thought for a moment that [the family proclamation] really didn’t pertain too much to me since I wasn’t married and didn’t have any children. But almost as quickly I thought, ‘But it does pertain to me. I am a member of a family. I am a daughter, a sister, an aunt, a cousin, a niece, and a granddaughter. … Even if I were the only living member of my family, I am still a member of God’s family.’”⁵

Consider This

How is “The Family: A Proclamation to the World” a document for our day?

Here are some ideas...

Visiting Teaching Ideas

Corina's Corner

Life's Journey to Perfection

Overstuffed

LDS VILLAGE

Pink Polkadot

MIMI LEE

My Happy Tribe

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Sunday, October 11, 2015

October 2015 Visiting Teaching Ideas

The visiting teaching message can be found:

LDS.ORG

Divine Attributes of Jesus Christ: Filled with Charity and Love

Prayerfully study this material and seek to know what to share. How will understanding the divine attributes of the Savior increase your faith in Him and bless those you watch over through visiting teaching? For more information, go to reliefsociety.lds.org.

This is part of a series of Visiting Teaching Messages featuring divine attributes of the Savior.

The Influence of Righteous Women, by Julie Rogers

The Guide to the Scriptures defines charity as “the highest, noblest, strongest kind of love” (“Charity”). It is the pure love of Jesus Christ. As we learn of Jesus Christ and strive to become like Him, we will begin to feel His pure love in our lives and be prompted to love and serve others as He would. “Charity is having patience with someone who has let us down,” said President Thomas S. Monson. “It is resisting the impulse to become offended easily. It is accepting weaknesses and shortcomings. It is accepting people as they truly are. It is looking beyond physical appearances to attributes that will not dim through time. It is resisting the impulse to categorize others.”¹

In the Book of Mormon, we learn the great truth that we “pray unto the Father with all the energy of heart, that [we] may be filled with this love, which he hath bestowed upon all who are true followers of his Son, Jesus Christ; that [we] may become the sons [and daughters] of God; that when he shall appear we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is; that we may have this hope; that we may be purified even as he is pure” (Moroni 7:48).

Additional Scriptures

John 13:34–35; 1 Corinthians 13:1–13; 1 Nephi 11:21–23; Ether 12:33–34

From Our History

“A sister who had recently been widowed was grateful for visiting teachers who mourned with her and comforted her. She wrote: ‘I was in desperate need of someone to whom I could reach out; someone who would listen to me. … And they listened. They comforted me. They wept with me. And they hugged me … [and] helped me out of the deep despair and depression of those first months of loneliness.’

“Another woman summed up her feelings when she was the recipient of true charity from a visiting teacher: ‘I knew that I was more than just a number on the record books for her to visit. I knew that she cared about me.’”²

Like these sisters, many Latter-day Saints around the world can attest to the truth of this statement by President Boyd K. Packer (1924–2015), President of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles: “How consoling it is to know that no matter where [a family may] go, a Church family awaits them. From the day they arrive, he will belong to a quorum of the priesthood and she will belong to Relief Society.”³

Consider This

How is Christ our perfect example of love and charity?

Here are some ideas around the net for visiting teaching:

Or So She Says:

Pink Polka Dot Creations:

Bippity Boppity Beautiful:

Darling Doodles:

The Idea Door:

Life's Journey:

Little LDS Ideas:

Visiting Teaching Ideas:

Esty:

Latter Day Village:

Little Miss Molly Mormon:

Sunday, September 6, 2015

September Visiting Teaching Ideas via the web...

Divine Attributes of Jesus Christ: Powerful and Full of Glory

Prayerfully study this material and seek to know what to share. How will understanding the divine attributes of the Savior increase your faith in Him and bless those you watch over through visiting teaching? For more information, go to reliefsociety.lds.org.

Faith, Family, Relief

Detail from Jesus Raises Lazarus from the Dead, by Carl Heinrich Bloch

This is part of a series of Visiting Teaching Messages featuring divine attributes of the Savior.

The scriptures teach us that Jesus Christ “received all power, both in heaven and on earth, and the glory of the Father was with him” (D&C 93:17). Elder M. Russell Ballard of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles said that by this power our Savior created the heavens and earth, performed miracles, and endured the pain of Gethsemane and Calvary.¹ As we come to understand this, our faith in Christ will increase, and we will become stronger.

As we make and keep temple covenants, the Lord blesses us with His power. Linda K. Burton, Relief Society general president, said: “Covenant keeping strengthens, empowers, and protects. … I recently met a dear new friend. She testified that after she had received her temple endowment, she felt strengthened with power to resist temptations.”²

Nephi bears testimony of covenant power: “I, Nephi, beheld the power of the Lamb of God, that it descended … upon the covenant people of the Lord, … and they were armed with righteousness and with the power of God in great glory” (1 Nephi 14:14).

Additional Scriptures

Jeremiah 51:15; Revelation 1:6; Jacob 4:6–7; Mosiah 3:17

From the Scriptures

Being filled with great compassion for Martha and Mary, Jesus Christ raised their brother Lazarus from the dead by the power of God He possessed.

Jesus arrived at Martha and Mary’s home after Lazarus had been in the grave for four days. They went to Lazarus’s tomb, and Jesus commanded that the stone covering the entrance be taken away. Jesus said to Martha, “Said I not unto thee, that, if thou wouldest believe, thou shouldest see the glory of God?” He then prayed to God the Father and “cried with a loud voice, Lazarus, come forth.

“And he that was dead came forth, bound hand and foot with graveclothes.” (See John 11:1–45.) The Savior uses His power to redeem and empower us. Our faith in Him will increase as we remember that He is full of power and glory.